All recipes written by Gordon Ramsay
Prepare i Valtellina pizzoccheri with cabbage and Valtellina cheese it’s like tasting an authentic piece of this fascinating mountainous region. This dish, rooted in tradition, offers the warmth and goodness you expect from Italian mountain cuisine. The combination of pizzoccheri, a homemade pasta made with buckwheat, fresh cabbage and Valtellina cheese creates a harmony of flavors and textures that will win you over from the first bite.
As ancient as they are tasty, i pizzoccheri they made history. Born in a small village in the Valtellina, have fed the inhabitants of Teglio. A purely peasant population, this one, which has always found sustenance from its crops and from its own hands. This is how the pizzocchero, a traditional first course, poor but substantial, which has been able to combine the great availability of buckwheat with the ingredients of the garden and the products of the farm.
The first documentary testimony in which the Valtellina's pizzoccheri It dates back to 1548, when the typical pasta of the valley makes its appearance in "Catalog of the inventory of the things that are eaten, and of the drinks that are used there today" written by the Italian humanist Ortensio Landi. The original recipe is jealously guarded byPizzocchero Academy of Teglio, which was founded in 2002 and that holds the primacy, without equal. Already in 17th century the cultivation of buckwheat, which is the main foundation for the history of this dish, was widespread in the Valtellina area, so much so that dark flour it is precisely that "secret" ingredient that makes this pasta unique in its shape and texture.
The pizzoccheri, then, have a famous culinary reference within the work of H.L Lehmann Die Republik Graubündenthe. They bear the name of Perzockel, describing how noodles of buckwheat with the addition of eggs. Initially we dedicated ourselves to cooking the pasta and then we moved on to the sauce: butter mixed with grated cheese was added. In peasant houses, however, the recipe was the same but the format changed. Instead of noodles they preferred to prepare gnocchi. The peasant houses were very small and the spaces became narrow, sometimes even rolling out the dough became complicated. Hence the reason to opt for a more "comfort" pasta.
Only from the early nineteenth century on the tables of the Valtellina more wealthy the plate of pizzoccheri similar to the current one begins to appear. Greater wealth led to greater substance, even in tavala. Therefore they worked on coarse noodles of buckwheat and white flour in variable proportions depending on the locality, with a rich dressing consisting of chopped potatoes, cabbage or ribs or green beans. Subsequently the pizzoccheri were drained and covered with layers of two types of flaky cheese: a thinner one called féta and a more seasoned semi-fat. Nothing was missing, in fact on the grand finale, all the preparation was then enriched with a good dose of lard accompanied by garlic. In some areas, the latter was replaced by onion and sage.
A good tip? If you want doc pizzoccheri, use the Casera DOP cheese, a semi-fat cheese produced exclusively in Valtellina and protected by a brand of typicality.
In addition to the original version, which in 2016 obtained the IGP, this dish lends itself to creative variations: sprouts, turnip greens, pumpkin and escarole replace cabbage and their "degreasing" power, while the dark effect is entrusted to gorgonzola or sweet provolone.
Discover new tasty contemporary recipes in the new February issue of Sale & Pepe on newsstands
By Elena Strappa
What is a "Saracen" doing in Lombardy? Because he is the real protagonist of the polenta taragna, a typical dish of Valtellina, in whose name its essence is contained. Saraceno is wheat, while “taragna” derives from “tarai”, the stick used to “tarare”, turning in the Valtellinese dialect. During cooking, in fact, the polenta it must be mixed without stopping to prevent it from sticking on the bottom of the pot, irremediable error. Once upon a time, on the fire of economic kitchens, the polenta that was boiling in the cauldron was “black”, made exclusively with buckwheat flour. The result was a very nutritious dish, also given the presence of butter and cheese, but with a too strong flavor. Those who could afford it added a little corn flour, to sweeten the impact with the palate. Thus was born the recipe as it is known today.
Unlike the "blonde" corn polenta, the taragna has a definitely darker color. Thanks to buckwheat, a crop introduced in Valtellina around the middle of the 1500s and which today is a Slow Food Presidium. Resistant to cold climates, it has always represented one of the fundamental foods of the diet of the Valtellina farmers. The flour obtained from it is, in fact, also at the basis of others two typical dishes of the area: pizzoccheri and sciatt. Previously considered not very valuable, buckwheat has recently been re-evaluated for its nutritional properties. It does not contain gluten, while it has a high protein value. For this reason, like quinoa, it is considered a pseudo-cereal.
On the shelves of supermarkets it is now not difficult to find pre-cooked mixes, ready in no time. But the real secret to a polenta taragna to lick your fingers is in the prolonged cooking and in the quality of the flours used. For six people, in a saucepan, even better if made of copper, it must be brought to a boil four liters of already salted water where to pay a kilo of flour, about two thirds of buckwheat and a third of corn. The mixture must be lowered "like rain" and mixed with a whisk to prevent lumps from forming. When the mixture begins to have a certain consistency, we move on to wooden spoon to always turn it in the same direction. After about an hour, over moderate heat, when a crust has formed on the bottom and on the walls, it is time to add the other two ingredients. Before butter, 300 grams, cut into small pieces. After about 5 minutes, when cooked, add the Casera cheese, also typical of Valtelina, in chunks, about 600 grams. Before this is completely melted, the polenta taragna must be removed from the heat and poured onto a wooden cutting board. The perfect polenta taragna, of course, it still serves steaming, as a single dish, accompanied by sausages or luganega and, last but not least, a good glass of red wine.
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